In the morning, Amru bin al-Ass and Amarah bin al-Waleed headed for the sea
holding gifts to al-Najashy, the King of Habasha. The delegates crossed the sea
with a ship. They reached the land of Habasha. They came to the King's palace.
Amru bin al-Ass said to the guards of the palace: We're the Quraishi delegates
holding gifts to the King.

Al-Najashy greeted the delegates and accepted the gifts of the Quraish. The
priests received their gifts, too. The King asked them about the purpose of
their visit. The delegates said: Some foolish persons have taken refuge in the
land of Habasha. They've abandoned their fathers' and grandfathers' religion.
They haven't accepted the King's religion. Rather; they've brought a new
religion. Neither you nor we have known it. We, the Quraishi noblemen, have come
to bring them back and to educate them.

The King of Habasha was just and wise man. So, he said: How can I hand you the
people who have chosen my country and asked me for help? But I'll ask them some
questions. If their thoughts are corrupt; if they are deviated, I'd hand them to
you. Otherwise, I'd leave them to live in my country.

Al-Najashy sent for the immigrants. They came. Ja'far bin Abu Talib was in
advance. They came into the palace and stood in front of the King. The Habashian
people bowed when they met the King. So the Habashian and the delegates bowed to
the King. The Muslims did not bow; their heads remained high raised. Al-Najashy
asked the Muslims: Why don't you bow to me? Ja'far answered: We don't bow to
anyone but Allah. The King said: What do you mean? Ja'far answered: Your
Majesty; the King, Allah has sent us an Apostle. The Apostle has ordered us not
to bow to anyone but Allah. He has also ordered us to pray and to pay zakat.
Amru bin al-Ass said evilly: They're breaking the King's religion! Al-Najashy
asked him to keep silent; and asked Ja'far to go on. Ja'far politely said: Your
Majesty, the King, we were ignorant people. We worshipped the idols. We ate dead
animals. We did bad actions and abandoned our relatives. We mistreated our
neighbors. The strong oppressed the weak. So Allah has sent us an Apostle. We
know his ancestors and his truthfulness. We know that he is pure and
trustworthy. So, he has invited us to worship the Only Allah. He has ordered us
to avoid what we and our fathers had worshipped. He has ordered us to be
truthful and to give the trusts to their owners. He has ordered us to visit our
relatives, to be good neighbors, to stop bad actions and shedding blood. He has
prevented us from atrocities, falsehood taking the orphan's money and speaking
evil of the married women. He has ordered us to worship Allah only and not to be
polytheists. He has ordered us to pray, to give alms, and to fast. Your majesty;
the king, we've believed him and followed what he has brought from Allah. So,
we've worshipped Allah only- we're not polytheists. But our people have
aggressed against us. They've tortured us. They've prevented us from our
religion to worship the idols again. After they had persecuted us, we came to
your country. We've preferred you to others. We want to live in your country.
Thus, your majesty, the king, we ask you to treat us justly. Al-Najashy said
politely: Have you anything of what your Prophet has brought? Ja'far politely
said: Yes. Al-Najashy said: Read me something. Ja'far began reading some verses
of the Chapter of Maryam:

﴾And mention Maryam in the Book when she drew aside from her family to
an eastern place. So, she took a veil (to screen herself) from them; then We
sent to her Our Spirit, and there appeared to her a well-made man. She said:
Surely I fly for refuge from you to the Beneficent God, if you are one guarding
(against evil). He said: I am only a messenger of your Lord: That I will give
you a pure boy. She said: When shall I have a boy and no mortal has yet touched
me, nor have I been unchaste? He said: Even so; your lord says: It is easy to
me: and that We may make him a sign to men and a mercy from us; and it is a
matter which has been decreed. So, she conceived him; then withdrew herself with
a remote place and the throes (of childbirth) compelled her to take herself to
the trunk of a palm tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died before this, and
had been a thing quite forgotten! Then (the child called out to her from beneath
her): Grieve not, surely your lord has made a stream to flow beneath you. And
shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree, it will drop on you fresh ripe
dates. So, eat and drink and refresh the eye. Then if you see any mortal, say:
Surely I have vowed a fast to the Beneficent God, so I shall not speak to any
man today and she came to her people with him, carrying him (with her). They
said: O Maryam! Surely you have done a strange thing. O Sister of Haroon! Your
father was not a bad man, nor was your mother an unchaste woman.﴿

Al-Najashy wept. His tears flowed on his cheeks. The priests and the monks wept
humbly, too. Ja'far's voice was flowing humbly: But she pointed to him. They
said:
﴾How should we speak to one who was a child in the cradle?﴿
He said:
﴾Surely I am Allah's servant; he has given me the Book and made me a
prophet, and has made me blessed wherever I may be, and he has enjoined on me
prayer and poor-rate so long as I live and dutiful to my mother; and he has not
made me insolent, unblessed and peace be on me on the day I was born, and on the
day I die, and on the day I am raised to life.﴿
Al-Najashy stood up for Allah's Words and said humbly: Certainly this and what 'Isa
had brought come out of one niche. He turned to the Quraishi delegates and said
angrily: I won't hand them to you and I'll defend them. Then he ordered his
soldiers to dismiss the delegation and to return the gifts to them. He said:
They are bribes. I don't want to be bribed.

He turned to Ja'far and his Muslim group and said: You're welcome; Your Prophet
is welcome. I admit that he is the Apostle whom 'Isa bin Maryam had given good
news about. Live wherever you like in my country. Al-Najashy wanted to know
something about the manners of Islam. He asked Ja'far: How do you greet each
other? Our greeting is to say Assalamu Alaikum.

Another Plot

On the following day Amru bin al-Ass and Amarah decided to go to the King's
Palace. On their way, Amru bin al-Ass said to Amarah: This time, I'll get my
revenge on Ja'far. I'll tell the kings that the Muslims have another idea about
'Isa. Again the delegates came to al-Najashy and said: Your majesty; the king,
the Muslims say that 'Isa is a slave. Al-Najashy kept silent for a while then he
said to the guard: Go to Ja'far to hear his point of view. Ja'far came and
greeted the King and said: Assalamu Alaikum. The King asked him: What's your
point of view about 'Isa? Ja'far answered calmly: We say as Allah and His
Apostle have said about him. The King asked him: What's your Prophet said?

Ja'far answered calmly: He's Allah's slave, His Apostle, His Spirit, His Word
that He has given to the chaste, virgin Maryam. Al-Najashy kept silent for a
while, then he drew a line on the ground with his stick. So, he said: Go to your
friends. You're safe in my country. Again the delegates' plot came to nothing.
The delegates hopelessly came back to Makkah. Since that meeting, the Muslims
had been happy in the land of the just King.

Our Master Mohammad (peace be upon him and his household) and the Muslims
rejoiced at Ja'far's victory and his stay in Habasha.

588 View |
15-04-2013 | 14:34

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